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Rapunzel1974 Gulfport, United States

Today, while I was teaching my chickens to eat out of my hand, one of the hens bit my finger and I dropped the entire handful of treats. Result: bonanza for the bird. The rest decided they could get more treats by biting me rather than by behaving. I now have a flock of fingerbiters. FML

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Rapunzel1974 tells us more.

Rapunzel1974 23

I'm the OP. I'm the one with the Fabulous Fingerbiters. These chickens aren't food: they're overindulged pets. Each one has a name, so chicken stew isn't an option. I've named them after various vaudeville stars or actresses because they're a lot of feathery drama queens. Actually, biting the hand that feeds them is right in line with the entertainment-industry theme I chose when naming them. A chicken bite from a baby bird isn't really painful at all because their little beaks are so soft. Even an adult bird's peck isn't painful in the same way a dog or cat bite is painful. They can't break the skin, although if they get you in the face it can leave a scratch or welt. A parrot, by contrast, can take your finger off. Chickens just aren't strong enough. These are going to be lovely laying hens. They're just a bit cheeky. I think I can break them of the habit by switching for a while to grass instead of mealworms, by *not* dropping the goodies no matter what, and moving on to the second phase of training, where I train them to hop onto my lap and sit there to be fed and petted. When training a chicken, it's important to use food as a reward. They're not like dogs and they don't consider attention a reward. They don't even consider petting a reward until they're conditioned to do so, because it's not a normal behavior or sensation for them. But it's straight-up operant conditioning, right out of B.F. Skinner

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Dead leaves, the first cold of the season and an umbrella flipped inside out: fall, the season of grace.

Top comments

grimrepa2007 3

OP. I'm going to assume you like chickens.... alot

NinjaJellyfish 27

Let them have their treats OP. Fatten them up. And when they're least expecting it.... Chicken pie time.

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Comments (128)

SasquatchDeluxe 10

Time for some home-made fried chicken!

iwadasn 33

Those chickens are evil geniuses.

lipun 8

for the first time I realized that all the hens in a poultry could be that smart! anyway, use tit for tat, use a stick with other hand but be careful not to hit hard when the first hen tries to peck ur finger. :-)

eternal_malaise 10

Some day the OP will be in the news when their chickens escape and peck some poor kid to death. :D

Rapunzel1974 23

Nah, that's too small a scale for the wanton destruction poultry is capable of. I'm thinking about training them to run (and flap) for public office. They're already halfway there: they bite the hand that feeds them, they rake up muck, and they refuse to maintain a fixed position. Even with their tendency to dump the contents of their bowels wherever they like, I still don't think they'll goof up quite as much as human elected officials. But, since a chicken has a brain the size of a cranberry, they might be overqualified for the job.

AninOnin 24

I'm in love.

Thorzix 23

They're freaking birds, too dumb to be taught anything...

thedudeguy1 16

Probably not as painful as a sharp curves beak like my bird's. (profile photo)

tywings40 4

then turn them into chicken fingers

Taurus_ChicKa 37

Angry Birds: The Next Generation. :D

Rapunzel1974 23

I'm the OP. I'm the one with the Fabulous Fingerbiters. These chickens aren't food: they're overindulged pets. Each one has a name, so chicken stew isn't an option. I've named them after various vaudeville stars or actresses because they're a lot of feathery drama queens. Actually, biting the hand that feeds them is right in line with the entertainment-industry theme I chose when naming them. A chicken bite from a baby bird isn't really painful at all because their little beaks are so soft. Even an adult bird's peck isn't painful in the same way a dog or cat bite is painful. They can't break the skin, although if they get you in the face it can leave a scratch or welt. A parrot, by contrast, can take your finger off. Chickens just aren't strong enough. These are going to be lovely laying hens. They're just a bit cheeky. I think I can break them of the habit by switching for a while to grass instead of mealworms, by *not* dropping the goodies no matter what, and moving on to the second phase of training, where I train them to hop onto my lap and sit there to be fed and petted. When training a chicken, it's important to use food as a reward. They're not like dogs and they don't consider attention a reward. They don't even consider petting a reward until they're conditioned to do so, because it's not a normal behavior or sensation for them. But it's straight-up operant conditioning, right out of B.F. Skinner

grimrepa2007 3

OP. I'm going to assume you like chickens.... alot

Savner 16

what's not to like?

packrat 26

Hi OP. Chickens are fun. :) have you tried clicker-training? There is a great yahoo group called Bird-Click with lots of helpful people and advice. They don't only focus on parrots, but also on other species such as chickens and ducks. There is a thread on clicker training a crow in there somewhere as well. The long and the short of it is that you might be able to keep your fingers a bit safer, and still get them to eat out of your hand. Good luck!

mattrd_fml 31

thanks for the lesson on chickens...

hannahhlizz 18

I don't know about anyone else but all these nifty chicken facts has me intrigued. On to the Wikipedia page.

martin8337 36

Robot Chicken. Puk.

asnakelovinbabe 16

It's good to see you have a passion. Chickens make wonderful pets and a lot of people don't realize how smart and funny they are.

TogeBara 12

the smell...i live downwind from a chicken farm (one that raises them for eggs rather than meat...though eggs are meat...you get the point)

shannon.elizabeth 13

I call my chickens raptors. they also definitely do break the skin